The successful season of the Chicago White Sox has been a story of
the fortunes of two of its most star-crossed players, and they provide a great
contrast for the purposes of this White Sox value survey.

Alex Rios isn’t a legitimate MVP candidate, but he should be a
shoo-in for Comeback Player of the Year. He has done everything and more that
White Sox GM Ken Williams hoped he would when he lifted him off the waiver wire three seasons ago.
In 2011, Rios was a shell of a player, Frisbee-tossing in throws from center
field (if his guess-me-if-you-can reads on fly balls and liners even
allowed for fielding the ball cleanly), losing all hope in the batters’ box by
either waving off any notion of contact or tapping out customary 6-4-3s, and
generally making all the mental errors not of a man being steadfastly supported
by his manager (in this case, the
consummately-forgiving-unless-he-changes-his-mind Ozzie Guillen) but of one
being thrashed nightly by a disapproving helicopter parent. Rios’s turnaround
in all phases of his game translates into gaudy WAR numbers, the best of his
White Sox career (currently 3.8, projecting to 5.3, the best among Sox hitters this season).

Adam Dunn is the brasher older brother of 2011’s disappointing
pair. It was Dunn who cajoled Rios last July into forming a blood brotherhood
wherein if the White Sox were to make a move in the standings, it would be “on
their backs.” As it turned out, Rios and Dunn played the rest of the season as if lying on their backs, not strapping the team on them, which is why the All-In 2011 South Siders sported a record payroll but
languished four games under .500 by the time Ozzie cleared out his office and
unpacked his linenwear.

Dunn, with 35 homers that lead the majors, is the more popular
choice for Comeback Player of the Year in 2012, especially after having played the Worst Season in
Baseball History in 2011. But even in Dunn's comeback season, the flaws in his game
long before his ballyhooed, I’m-homering-to-the-scoreboard arrival at USCF are
apparent. As a defender, Dunn is generally passable and mildly on par with the club's regular
first baseman, Paul Konerko, but still appears to be every bit the guy who had
played one full season at first base before turning DH in the American League.
And as a hitter, his approach still betrays a Three Outcomes Guy who seems to
pride himself on putting the ball in play as rarely as anyone in the game ever
has. Somehow, Rob Deer doesn’t pop up among Dunn’s similarity scores at
Baseball-Reference, but still, Adam, being Rob Deer is no way to go through your
baseball life. Even in such an uplifting bounce-back, the limitations of Dunn’s
game are apparent in a 1.5 WAR (projecting to 2.1), a figure that would be
decidedly better than only about half the 12 seasons of Dunn’s career.

For value survey purposes, this difference in all-around
games between the two guys—what either player provides a team at
his best—is absurdly evident. Rios’s high WAR balanced against a $12
million salary means that he roughly projects not only to earn his salary, but
double its value … in other words, Rios will provide $12 million in surplus value on top
of salary, back to the White Sox. Dunn, with a modest WAR that seemingly
represents about the best he can do at this time and position in his career, is
playing a game he can’t possibly win; it will take some luck (and maybe a
couple of actual base hits supplanting Ks) for him to push his WAR high enough
to earn his $14 million salary—that is, break even with the White Sox for the
season.

It’s studies in contrasts like these—mining more deeply into the
numbers than mere home runs or errors—that make the value survey so fascinating. It
tells a true tale of each season, of the bottom lines of teams and players.
We’re three-quarters in, so it’s time to dust off the midseason survey and
update it for the stretch run.

White
Sox Bargains

Bargains are the players who have added surplus value to the White
Sox (production beyond their salaries).

1. Chris Sale ($14,790,418)

Prior
survey: 1

The good news for Sale is that he is still far ahead of the race
to be the best value on the White Sox, to the extent that he has effectively
clinched the title, with a $5.5 million lead on Alejandro De Aza. The bad news?
His value has essentially remained the same in the third quarter of the season.

2. Alejandro De Aza ($9,251,103)

Prior survey:
2

De Aza’s production trails Alex Rios, but his bargain-basement
price nudges him ahead of his outfield mate.

3. Alex Rios ($9,091,714)

Prior
survey: 3

It’s quite simple: There is no more valuable position player on
the White Sox this season than Rios.

4. A.J. Pierzynski ($8,498,959)

Prior
survey: 5

The first significant jump of this survey is A.J., who is having a
second half for the ages.

5. Jose Quintana ($7,567,270)

Prior
survey: 4

Quintana only lost the No. 4 spot because of Pierzynski’s
ridiculous gain of more than $3 million in surplus value.

6. Kevin Youkilis ($4,925,826)

Say what you will about Yolk cooling off after making an immediate
impact on the South Side, but he’s on pace to provide close to $10 million in
surplus value for the White Sox.

7. Addison Reed ($3,181,137)

Prior
survey: T7

Mr. Excitement continues to compile stirring surplus value.

8. Jake Peavy ($2,734,871)

Prior
survey: 6

As great as Peavy’s value to the White Sox has been—in the mix forteam MVP for sure—in surplus value terms, it’s a near miracle that his value
continues to surpass a $17 million salary.

9. Francisco Liriano ($2,611,344)

Another extraordinary pickup for loose change made by GM Ken
Williams.

10. Nate Jones ($2,475,022)

Prior
survey: T7

Overlooked in Reed’s record-breaking rookie season is Jones’s
terrific work in front of him.

11. Tyler Flowers ($999,174)

Prior
survey: 12

Continued production on both sides for the ball would give Flowers a chance to surpass last year’s surplus value of almost $1.5 million.

12. Dewayne Wise ($890,142)

Yes, a ridiculously small sample size. But yes, another sly snag
by Williams.

13. Eric Stults ($544,892)

Prior
survey: 13

Ah, the power of one good start.

14. Jesse Crain ($537,024)

Prior
survey: 17

Through multiple injuries, Crain is gradually building a solid
surplus value season.

15. Donnie Veal ($484,892)

Among all the in-season bullpen adds, Veal might be the real keeper.

16. Gavin Floyd ($411,701)

Prior
survey: 13th on the Busts list

It’s a down season for Floyd, but there’s still time for
him to change that.

17. Dylan Axelrod ($404,892)

Prior
survey: 11

Liriano’s gain is W. Axel Rod’s loss.

18. Hector Santiago ($324,892)

Prior
survey: 11th on the Busts list

Having settled down before and after his stint down in Charlotte
has brought Hector back to the plus side, where he ended last season as well.

19. Brett Myers ($218,346)

The Games Finished Watch is fully on.

20. Brian Bruney ($98,013)

Prior
survey: 19

Hip surgery means Bruney finishes this season where he could not
in 2011—on the plus side of the ledger.

21. Dayan Viciedo ($40,283)

Prior
survey: 16

It says a decent amount for the Tank that he’s having a very
modest season, but is still on the plus-side in surplus value despite a $2.5
million salary.

White
Sox Busts

Busts are the players who have cost surplus debits to the White
Sox (production at a negative-WAR level and/or modest WAR unable to keep pace
with salary).

1. John Danks
(-$5,541,554)

Prior
survey: 1

It will take a terrible stretch run from Dunn for Danks not to
finish atop this ignominious list.

2. Adam Dunn (-$3,836,033)

Prior
survey: 12

Talk up a comeback season all you wish, but Dunn’s fairly modest
production overall can’t keep pace with his salary. On the plus side, at this
time a year ago, Dunn was fast approaching -$20 million in surplus value to the
White Sox.

3. Brent Morel
(-$3,612,216)

Prior
survey: 2

Morel is earning at a minimum level, so his being this deep in the
hole is purely a product of running up a tab of -0.7 WAR in just two months.

4. Will Ohman
(-$2,944,677)

Prior
survey: 3

Now rocking a 4.26 ERA and 3.16 WHIP at Louisville for the
Cincinnati Reds.

He's Pawtucket's problem now.

5. Zach Stewart
(-$2,899,239)

Prior
survey: 4

Now rocking a 4.13 ERA over 10 starts at Pawtucket for the Boston
Red Sox. No word on the return of his permed locks.

6. Orlando Hudson
(-$2,297,529)

Prior
survey: 8

The O-Dog experiment did not work. It was the last hunch that
failed to play out well for Williams this season.

There’s no urgency to give up on players making nothing at the
major league level, from a salary standpoint. But the value survey screams
murder when a below-replacement level player gets 500 ABs in the majors.

8. Brent Lillibridge
(-$1,620,212)

Prior
survey: 6

Three teams in one season; as bad as he was for Boston, he’s been
good for the Cleveland Indians.

9. Kosuke Fukudome
(-$1,275,118)

Prior
survey: 7

Now rocking a .749 OPS at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the New York
Yankees.

10. Eduardo Escobar
(-$1,261,342)

Prior
survey: 10

Now rocking a .634 OPS at Rochester for the Minnesota Twins, his
worst mark since Single-A.

11. Matt Thornton (-$1,179,538)

Prior
survey: 21st on the Bargains list

His wishy-washy production is swallowed up by salary.

Q remains puzzled.

12. Pedro Hernandez
(-$1,149,785)

Now rocking a 5.40 ERA in three starts at Rochester for the Twins.
Carlos Quentin goes all Hulk whenever he remembers this was one of the guys
traded for him.

13. Philip Humber
(-$950,732)

Prior
survey: 15

It’s doubtful that spot appearances out of the pen will get Perfect Philip out of the value hole he’s dug for himself this season.

14. Paul Konerko
(-$674,773)

Prior
survey: Ninth on the Bargains list

PK’s 1.7 WAR is fighting to keep pace with his salary, especially
after being shelved for a week post-concussion.

15. Ray Olmedo
(-$660,094)

If O-Dog had done his job, Olmedo would still be luxuriating in
his Charlotte digs.

16. Jordan Danks
(-$393,010)

Prior
survey: 20th on the Bargains list

That game-ending dinger couldn’t stave off a demotion, and it
couldn’t raise his WAR to 0.0, either.

17. Alexei Ramirez
(-$229,481)

Prior
survey: 5

The Missile has turned his season around in the second half and is
on pace to be a plus-value player for his fifth straight season on the South
Side.

18. Jhan Marinez (-$181,223)

19. Leyson Septimo (-$80,000)

Prior
survey: 14th on the Bargains list

20. Brian Omogrosso (-$40,000)

Prior
survey:18th on the Bargains list

With just 18 appearances among them, this trio of bullpen arms are
the epitome of replacement players.

Yolk leads the way for White Sox value gainers. (Nam Huh/AP)

White
Sox Value Gains

Since the midseason report—thus over the course of approximately a
quarter of the 2012 season—these White Sox made positive value gains.

1. Kevin Youkilis ($3,968,816)

2. A.J. Pierzynski ($3,193,879)

3. Francisco Liriano ($2,611,344)

4. Alexei Ramirez ($2,270,519)

5. Alex Rios ($2,105,589)

6. Jose Quintana ($1,780,307)

7. Chris Sale ($1,086,238)

8. Hector Santiago ($1,002,962)

9. Tyler Flowers ($999,174)

10. Dewayne Wise ($890,142)

11. Alejandro De Aza ($589,517)

12. Gavin Floyd ($553,161)

13. Addison Reed ($500,667)

14. Donnie Veal ($484,892)

15. Jesse Crain ($304,625)

16. Kosuke Fukudome ($281,892)

17. Brett Myers ($218,346)

Unfortunately, back in a familiar place.

White
Sox Value Losses

Since the midseason report, these White Sox lost value.

1. Adam Dunn (-$3,329,096)

2. Paul Konerko (-$2,677,850)

3. John Danks (-$2,271,671)

4. Philip Humber (-$1,415,849)

5. Matt Thornton (-$1,203,984)

6. Pedro Hernandez (-$1,149,785)

7. Orlando Hudson (-$995,443)

8. Jake Peavy ($-885,078)

9. Gordon Beckham (-$758,765)

10. Ray Olmedo (-$660,094)

11. Leyson Septimo (-$640,094)

12. Eduardo Escobar (-$568,338)

13. Jordan Danks (-$461,048)

14. Brent Morel (-$347,187)

15. Dylan Axelrod (-$298,825)

16. Dayan Viciedo (-$219,732)

17. Nate Jones (-$205,448)

18. Jhan Marinez (-$181,223)

19. Brian Omogrosso (-$162,023)

20. Will Ohman (-$88,419)

21. Zach Stewart (-$54,816)

22. Brent Lillibridge (-$36,199)

23. Eric Stults (-$19.202)

24. Brian Bruney (-$4,801)

Team
Value Summary

White Sox hitters boast a cumulative $16,728,129 in surplus value
on the season so far, an improvement of $4,245,775 since the midseason report.
The average White Sox hitter brings $929,340 in surplus value to the team.

Pitchers are, as in 2011, carrying more than their share of
surplus value for the team: $22,504,205, a drop of $38,675 since the midseason
report. The average White Sox pitcher brings $978,444 in surplus value to the
team.

The roster has produced a surplus value of $39,232,334 at the
three-quarter mark of the season, an increase of $4,207,100 since midseason.

In 2011, the White Sox provided just $20,573,350 in surplus value (pitchers $33,253,350, hitters -$12,680,000), so the 2012 club is
assured of providing more value than their predecessors.

Note: For
batters, 1.0 WAR is equal to $4,650,708; for pitchers, 1.0 WAR is equal to
$4,236,693. WAR data was compiled using Baseball-Reference, Baseball
Prospectus, and FanGraphs. Small changes in inactive player values are
most often a result of slight tweaks in the $/WAR data. Players not on the
roster for the midseason survey don’t have “prior survey” results. Figures are through games of August 17.

About Poetry in Pros

Brett most recently logged a couple of beats at CSNChicago, first following the Blackhawks and covering their first Stanley Cup win in 49 years, then shifting to the South Side and the White Sox.

His sportswriting career began right before the turn of the century, first as an editor for Basketball News and later editing Basketball Digest and Bowling Digest. He has written for Baseball Digest and the Chicago White Sox and MLB World Series programs, as well as Slam, Hoop, Inside Stuff, Courtside, Rinkside, and numerous NBA game programs. He has been featured in ESPN the Magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Baltimore Sun and Crain's Chicago Business, and on NBA-TV, NHL.com, MLB.com, WLS-TV, WGN-TV and the BBC. He's also written features for the NBA Finals and NBA All-Star Game programs.

Brett is the author of the essential baseball reference work 'The Wit and Wisdom of Ozzie Guillen.' When Ozzie first saw the book, on Opening Night 2006, he cracked wise to those in his manager's office, asking, "What's wisdom?" To which owner Jerry Reinsdorf replied, "Don't worry, Ozzie. You don't have any." Precognitive, Jerry is.

A lifelong Chicago sports fan, the first game Brett attended was on Dec. 4, 1976, watching the Bulls snap a (still) franchise-record 13-game losing streak and setting in motion the playoff run that would come to be defined as the Miracle on Madison. At Brett's first White Sox game on June 4, 1977, Richie Zisk of the South Side Hit Men homered over the roof at Comiskey Park at a time when the feat was as rare as a no-hitter. Brett's first Chicago Bears game was on Oct. 7, 1984, when Walter Payton broke the all-time NFL career rushing mark.

More than anything, however, Brett is a baseball and a White Sox fan, having seen hundreds of games over his lifetime, including a walk-off grand slam by Carlos Lee to defeat the Cubbies, the infamous Michael Barrett sucker-punch on A.J. Pierzynski, a then-season record home run by Oscar Gamble in 1977, Bobby Thigpen's 50th season save and the classic Blackout tiebreaker win over the Twins in 2008. There have been many pilgrimages to see the team, including a September 1990 drive up from Texas to see a final series at Comiskey Park, an April 1991 flight to see the otherwise-unmentionable first game at the then-New Comiskey Park, outrunning a snowstorm to see the White Sox be whitewashed in late September at Kauffman Stadium, and a jaunt down to the juice box in 2005 to catch the club take on the former Devil Rays.

His highlight as a fan is, of course, witnessing the entire home run of 2005 White Sox playoff victories, including the two extraordinary wins over the Houston Astros at U.S. Cellular Field that spurred a World Series sweep. More recently, he took in Mark Buehrle's perfect game in 2009, during which Brett made the boldest prediction imaginable--not of an eventual perfect game, but a Josh Fields grand slam! Brett has watched games in every major league city.

Brett graduated from Texas Christian University with a Journalism and English degree and later went on to take two decades to finish his English master's at Kansas State University. He's won a number of writing awards in areas as varied as poetry, fiction, news reporting and opinion writing. Brett lives in Buffalo Grove with his wife, the incomparable Angelique Anacleto.

Poetry in Pros Trivia

Now that you know a little bit about Poetry in Pros visionary Brett Ballantini, see how you score below. True or false, Brett:

Believes that the ABA saved professional basketball.

Borrowed the title of the first draft of his master's thesis from a Camper Van Beethoven song.

Co-founded and played in a band called Ethnocentric Republicans, who once shared a bill with 15-minutes-of-fame grunge rockers The Toadies.

Considers nachos piled high with jalapenos as his go-to concession food.

Gave a Crunch bar to then-Nestle spokesman Shaquille O'Neal before their first interview together in Milwaukee. Later saw an empty Crunch bar wrapper in Shaq's locker.

Gave three photographs from his personal collection to the Chicago Bulls for their "walk of fame" leading to the locker room at the United Center.

Had four front teeth.

Has appeared in one movie, in which he was murdered when Albert Einstein slammed his head in a door.

Has appeared on the cover of a magazine with a circulation of 100,000. As Santa Claus. Bowling.

Has attended just three games in Wrigley Field as a fan. One was to see the Chicago Sting.

Has been a vegetarian for almost 25 years.

Has been doused by Bill Veeck's outfield shower in two different decades, in two different White Sox parks.

Hasn't cried over a game since Tito Landrum crushed that homer off of Britt Burns in October 1983.

Has worked for at least seven publications that are no longer in business.

Kissed the Minnie Minoso statue in the outfield concourse at Sox Park on the cheek as a good-luck gesture before Game 1 of the 2005 World Series.

To Wit:

"When I build a fire under a person, I do not do it merely because of the enjoyment I get out of seeing him fry, but because he is worth the trouble. It is then a compliment, a distinction; let him give thanks and keep quiet. I do not fry the small, the commonplace, the unworthy."